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Louisiana has launched a new website to give taxpayers insight into how public schools allocate their funds.

The website, required by a 2023 law, offers financial information on each state’s school districts and charter schools, including vendor contracts, revenue sources, per-pupil spending, and employee salaries. It is available online for download. 

According to a release from Treasurer John Fleming and Senator Rick Edwards, the site will give taxpayers “easy access to details regarding how public schools are spending public funds.” 

Users can see each school district’s spending on instructional goods, maintenance, transportation, information technology, land acquisition, and supplies.

For example, public schools spend an average of $15,400 per student, but the amount varies among districts and charter schools. According to the website, St John the Baptist Parish spends $21,562 per pupil, St Charles Parish $21,751 per pupil, and St James Parish $19,832 per pupil, respectively.

Data from private schools that receive public funds is not included. The website’s records of teachers’ earnings in St John the Baptist Parish were obsolete, with names of teaching staff no longer employed by the St John the Baptist Parish Public School system.

State Treasurer John Fleming stated that residents can utilize the website as a resource to hold local schools accountable for their spending. He described it as the most comprehensive website of its kind in the country.

The law ACT 370 requires schools to report financial information to the state’s Department of Education. The new legislation requires that they submit it to Louisiana’s Department of Treasury, which has put it into the new searchable database.

“This is information that [districts] normally report to the department,” said First Assistant State Treasurer Rachel Kincaid, “but we visualized it so that you can search it.”

Fleming stated that future legislation might require private schools receiving state funds — including taxpayer money through Louisiana’s new LA GATOR program — to submit their own data.

He warned that, as the site is early-stage, his department is collecting school data, which may be incomplete. He urged anyone finding reporting errors to submit them to the state’s Department Treasury.

Senator Rick Edmonds, R-Baton Rouge, who authored the original bill, said the website’s launch is a crucial step toward transparency.